ATLANTIC CITY, N.J. – In the two months since the Eagles lost their playoff game to the New Orleans Saints, they re-signed five of their players, added four more in free agency and traded for another.

Among those new players were two from the Saints team that beat the Eagles in the NFC wild-card round on Jan. 4 – running back Darren Sproles, whom the Eagles traded for on Thursday, and safety Malcolm Jenkins, whom they signed as a free agent Tuesday.

Eagles coach Chip Kelly addressed those moves and other topics Friday night at the Revel Casino in Atlantic City before receiving the Maxwell Football Club's Earle "Greasy" Neale Award as the professional coach of the year. It was the first time he took questions from the media since Jan. 6.

Kelly explained for the first time why the Eagles signed Jenkins instead of a high-priced free agent like safety Jairus Byrd, cornerback Darrelle Revis or defensive end DeMarcus Ware.

"I don't think price tag has ever been an issue," Kelly said. "That's not how we talk about things. It's who fits in terms of what we do on either side of the ball and where do they fit special teams wise."

Then Kelly expounded on Jenkins' strengths as someone who can play receivers deep as well as help stop the run near the line of scrimmage. He said that made Jenkins more appealing than Byrd or T.J. Ward, whom Kelly knew from the University of Oregon.

"Malcolm got drafted as a corner, so he's got corner skills, he's got cover skills," Kelly said. "He was the right guy we were looking for because of his versatility. There are some other guys out there who are tremendous football players. But from what … we were looking for on the defensive side of the ball, as we kept going through it and analyzing everybody in free agency, he was the right fit for us."

As for Sproles, Kelly said he was too good to pass up once the Saints decided to either trade or release him. But Kelly said he hasn't figured out how he will use Sproles yet. The Eagles also have running back LeSean McCoy, who led the NFL in rushing with 1,607 yards but carried the ball a career-high 314 times. He also had 52 receptions.

"We've had [Sproles] for 12 hours now, so I don't think we've sat down as a staff and said, 'Let's use him this way, that way and that way,' " Kelly said. "He's a very tough player to cover coming out of the backfield. You can split him out wide. There are a lot of different things you can do with him, but we're really far away from [figuring that out].

"It was just an opportunity that we felt could complement what we have. We think we have a special, special back in LeSean and it would take a little load off him. … When you get a chance to add someone like that to your roster, it just gives you a lot more opportunities."

For the most part, Kelly said he's pleased with what the Eagles accomplished so far during the offseason. He said "the best thing we did as an organization" was re-signing left tackle Jason Peters, center Jason Kelce, receivers Jeremy Maclin and Riley Cooper and punter Donnie Jones.

But he admitted the Eagles still aren't at the elite level, despite improving from 4-12 in Andy Reid's final season in 2012 to 10-6 last season.

"We've been here a year now. We still have some holes in terms of being a complete team," Kelly said. "You can fill some of them in free agency, but we still have a ways to go.

"We've got guys that you can kind of hit the ground running, so to speak. … There are new guys that we've added to the puzzle. How do we bring those guys along at the same time? We've got a good start, but it means absolutely nothing. It's truly – it was like that in college and it's that way in the NFL – a year-to-year league."